Jul 2026· International Journal of Organization Theory & Behavior· pp. 1-18· 0 citations· 49 references
Abstract
This paper examines why carbon-intensive practices at academic conferences persist despite growing sustainability commitments within higher education institutions (HEIs). While prior research has addressed the environmental footprint of academic events and the technical feasibility of hybrid or decentralised formats, limited attention has been paid to the organisational and institutional mechanisms through which unsustainable conference practices are reproduced. The paper addresses this gap by investigating how organisational routines, institutional incentives and governance arrangements shape the adoption of more sustainable conference models.
The study adopts an exploratory empirical design combining a structured literature review with survey evidence collected during the 2024 EGOS Colloquium. The analysis examines travel and accommodation choices as indicators of the extent to which sustainability commitments are translated into conference-related practices.
The findings show that sustainability awareness alone does not lead to lower-impact behaviour. Carbon-intensive practices persist because they are embedded in organisational routines, reinforced by prestige- and networking-based participation norms, and weakly challenged by existing governance mechanisms. The study suggests that the persistence of unsustainable conference models reflects not only individual choice but also broader institutionalised patterns of academic participation.
The paper contributes to organisation theory and behaviour research by conceptualising conference sustainability as an organisational governance problem rather than only an environmental or technical one. It extends current debates on sustainable academic events by showing how institutional incentives and organisational inertia constrain change and by proposing an (E)ESG-based framework to support the assessment and redesign of conference governance in HEIs.
This paper aims to examine how collaboration is enacted within sustainability agendas in UK higher education, positioning it as the mechanism through which sustainability integration is realised. Building on the Sustainability Integration Framework, it interrogates the gap between policy rhetoric and institutional practice through critical discourse analysis of policies and practitioner interviews. It develops a Collaboration Continuum – participation, collaboration, co-creation and transformation – to explain how agency, decision-making authority and resources are distributed. Findings show collaboration is often consultative and voluntary, limiting power redistribution. The paper identifies enabling conditions for deeper integration and offers a governance lens for achieving embedded, equitable, whole-institution sustainability practice.
This study employs a qualitative design using critical discourse analysis of eight institutional sustainability policies and semi-structured interviews with staff across diverse UK higher education institutions (HEIs). Institutions were purposively sampled to reflect variation in type and mission. Policy documents and interview data were analysed iteratively using thematic coding and constant comparison to identify patterns across datasets and derive the Collaboration Continuum. Analytical focus was placed on how agency, decision-making authority and resources are distributed within institutional contexts, enabling examination of the relationship between policy discourse, institutional practice and governance structures shaping sustainability integration across institutional contexts.
The study reveals that although collaboration is widely invoked in policy discourse, its operationalisation is uneven across institutions. Many HEIs remain at participation or advisory levels, where collaboration is framed as consultation rather than shared governance. Institutional practices are characterised by environmental dominance, optional engagement structures and fragmented authority. More advanced practices emerge where collaboration is formalised, including student participation in decision-making forums, staff–student co-design of modules and living labs with external partners. These cases align with higher levels of the Continuum and later stages of the Sustainability Integration Framework. Collaborative integration is strengthened when governance structures recognise relational labour, embed co-governance and resource cross-boundary roles.
By positioning collaboration as the mechanism through which sustainability integration is realised, this paper offers a novel conceptual contribution through the Collaboration Continuum. Complementing structural models such as the Sustainability Integration Framework, it shifts attention from institutional commitments to the relational dynamics through which they are enacted. In doing so, it explains why institutions with similar structural arrangements demonstrate differing levels of integration. The paper advances understanding of how power, agency and resource allocation shape sustainability practice, offering a governance-oriented lens that bridges theory and practice. This provides actionable insight for higher education leaders seeking to move from rhetorical commitment to embedded, institution-wide transformation.
Emma Ransome· International Journal of Sus...· 0 citations
This study aims to understand how higher education institutions (HEIs) operationalize systemic sustainability by examining their organizational routines and stakeholder engagement processes, guided by systems thinking to identify feedbacks among routines, governance and stakeholder dynamics rather than to develop formal simulation models. It seeks to identify the mechanisms, enabling factors and barriers that shape institutional transitions toward holistic sustainability integration. This study does not develop formal system dynamics models; rather, it qualitatively identifies reinforcing and constraining feedback mechanisms.
A qualitative multi-case study design was employed, focusing on three HEIs recognized for advanced sustainability initiatives. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews with faculty, administrators, staff and students, complemented by document analysis and observations of campus-level practices. In total, 30 participants were interviewed across the three HEIs, including administrators, faculty, sustainability officers and student representatives, enabling a multi-perspective view of systemic sustainability processes. Systems-informed thematic analysis, combining cross-case pattern mapping with the identification of reinforcing and constraining mechanisms, and drawing on stakeholder theory, was used to interpret patterns across institutional contexts; the study does not include quantitative system dynamics modeling.
Four interrelated drivers emerged: the embedding of sustainability into daily organizational routines, inclusive stakeholder engagement that nurtures collective agency, adaptive governance mechanisms enabling coordinated action and mediating influences of leadership and institutional culture. Despite noteworthy progress, challenges persist, including fragmented responsibilities and resistance to cultural change within specific groups. The analysis primarily uncovers qualitative patterns and mechanisms, highlighting how sustainability becomes institutionalized through recursive practices and feedbacks rather than through isolated initiatives or formally modeled dynamic trajectories.
The study contributes by offering a qualitative, systems-informed framework that links organizational routines, governance arrangements and stakeholder dynamics in the sustainability transformation of HEIs. It advances understanding of systemic sustainability as an embedded, evolving process by articulating key reinforcing and constraining mechanisms in HEI sustainability transitions. It provides policymakers, university leaders and educators with actionable insights to foster more integrated, resilient and participatory sustainability strategies across higher education systems.
Isabel Barbosa· International Journal of Org...· 0 citations
This paper presents a systematic literature review, exploring how governance and evaluation frameworks for more accessible digital learning in higher education have been conceived, put into action, and evaluated. The study is put forward in response to concerns about the accessibility of digital learning and perceived limitations regarding the integration of accessibility into institutional governance and strategies for digital transformation. A systematic review method was designed to answer this question, using peer-reviewed studies identified through systematic database searching from the past ten years of research to explore the status of accessible digital learning across system-level governance. The literature was analysed using a thematic synthesis to identify patterns across accessibility governance and evaluation. Findings indicate that accessibility within higher education is prone towards a focus on compliance and technical issues rather than strategic integration, leading to fragmented governance responsibilities across higher-education institutes. Weak accountability and poor ownership held back progress while conversely leadership commitment enhanced implementation. Frameworks for evaluation were dominated by WCAG-based technical auditing at the expense of students and inclusion, whilst gaps in staff training and expertise exacerbated institutional resistance towards change.
Naeema Abdulrahman Alhasan· Frontiers of Computer Scienc...· 0 citations
The 2030 deadline for the United Nations Agenda for Sustainable Development is approaching. At the present universities’ field reveals a visible tension between stated commitment to sustainability and the structural change to fulfill it. Despite the institutional strategies and curriculum reform thoroughly examined by the literature, less attention has been given to the epistemic assumptions underlying indicator-driven sustainability agendas and to the ways managerial university governance may constrain more impactful approaches to sustainability. This study has two main aims: to examine how the SDGs are understood and used in teaching, research, and governance, including the structural and epistemic barriers reported by respondents; and to assess support for more critical and justice-oriented approaches to sustainability in higher education. Based on a cross-sectional survey of 54 academics recruited through transnational COST Action networks, the study combines descriptive statistics with thematic analysis of open-ended responses. Given the network-based sample, the findings are exploratory. They suggest that institutional engagement with the SDGs is often uneven and formed by existing organizational logics. A substantial majority of respondents support critical reformulation of the SDGs rather than unreflective agreement, pointing to a persistent tension between technocratic approaches to sustainability and broader consideration with epistemic justice. The findings also indicate that a more consequential approach on sustainability in higher education may require stronger recognition of Indigenous, local, community-based and intergenerational knowledge, as well as greater institutional capacity for critical and reflexive engagement beyond metric alignment.
Ivo Veiga, Diogo Guedes Vidal, Marie Rollo et al.· Open Research Europe· 0 citations
The use of digital technologies is now a strategic imperative in higher education institutions worldwide, but the processes through which digital technologies affect organisational and academic performance are poorly understood. This conceptual review attempts to address this gap thru investigating the relationships between digital transformation, organisational efficiency and academic performance in higher education institutions in the prominent international financial centers, Singapore, Hong Kong, London and New York. Drawing on Dynamic Capabilities Theory, the review synthesises current research into a coherent conceptual model, incorporating organisational efficiency as the mediating mechanism between digital transformation efforts and academic outcomes. The analysis shows that digital transformation has a positive effect on institutional performance in general, but these effects are strongly moderated by organisational capabilities, institutional readiness, leadership endorsement, and contextual factors. The review identifies important gaps in empirical evidence, theoretical development, methodological approaches and contextual understanding that need to be further explored. This review formulates eight testable hypotheses and develops a theoretical framework to lay the groundwork for future empirical research on how universities in competitive global environments can strategically use digital capabilities to simultaneously improve operational efficiency and educational quality. The insights produced are of interest to university leaders, policy makers, and higher education administrators who are dealing with the complexities of digital transformation in globally interconnected institutional spaces.
Niral Joshi· International journal of res...· 0 citations
An open-access course that teaches the foundations of advocacy and organisational change to researchers, research software engineers, and research technical professionals, structured around the UNICEF five-step advocacy cycle.
K. Pringle, Lorna Smith, Erinma Ochu et al.· 0 citations
We use cookies to run the site and, with your consent, for analytics and to show ads.
See our Cookie Policy.
